It’s always about water in Colorado, and the present Legislative Session is no exception. A bill headed for the House Public Health Care and Human Services Committee will attempt to make sure Colorado doesn’t wind up with the same water pollution problem as other states.

House Bill 15-1144 will be heard on Tuesday, Feb. 10, at 1:30 p.m. in the public health committee. Its sponsor is Rep. Dianne Primavera, D-Broomfield, the committee’s chair.

The bill would ban the production, manufacture and sale of personal care products that contain synthetic plastic microbeads less than 5 millimeters in size. The ban would be phased in over two years, beginning Jan. 1, 2018, and completed Jan. 1, 2020. Penalties for each violation range from $1,000 to $10,000. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment would levy the violations, with financial penalties assessed by the district court where the violation took place.

This type of legislation that involves the courts and a public agency usually carries a fiscal note; however, that fiscal note is not yet available.

Primavera told The Colorado Statesman this week that the request to carry legislation came from Johnson & Johnson, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of personal care products. While Johnson & Johnson has already pledged to remove microbeads from their products, they wanted to make sure smaller companies also take that action. “There may be some small companies [that use microbeads], and we also want to make sure none start up,” said Primavera. There’s also a concern that these products could come into Colorado from foreign countries, like China, Primavera said.

About two years ago, 5 Gyres, an environmental group devoted to ridding the world of plastics in the water supply, discovered tiny plastic beads were showing up in water samples. These tiny beads, referred to as microbeads, are used in a variety of personal care products, from body wash to facial scrubs to toothpaste. Last year Modern Hygienist magazine warned their readers that these microbeads were showing up in the gums of dental patients.

Microbeads have been around since the 1970s, but only in the last decade have they been used as exfoliants. The beads are plastic, made of polyethylene and related materials, including nylon. A bottle of Clear & Clean facial scrub, for example, contains 330,000 beads. In some products they’re so small that they bypass the filters in wastewater treatment plants and head into the water supply.

That’s what has some state legislatures and Congress in a lather.

Once in the water supply, these beads settle on the floor of rivers, lakes and oceans. Small fish may mistake them for fish eggs and eat them. The beads eventually kill the fish, either by damage to the internal organs or when the small fish are eaten by larger fish. When that happens, microbeads can get into the food chain and be consumed by humans. Microbeads also choke plant life and can absorb motor oil and pesticides.

Research from 5 Gyres was published in 2013 in Marine Pollution Bulletin. Researchers took samples from the Great Lakes and found that Lake Michigan, for example, had about 17,000 microbeads per square kilometer. In Lake Ontario, however, samples were as high as 1.1 million per square kilometer.

Primavera said microbeads are starting to show up in Colorado’s water systems. Last year a KMGH investigation found microbeads in water samples taken from the South Platte River.

Mark Salley, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, told The Statesman that microbeads are not regulated and therefore not routinely monitored in water, nor is the department aware of any specific issues related to microbeads.

Illinois became the first state to ban microbeads, in legislation passed in 2014. This year, more state legislatures are getting involved; in addition to Colorado, legislatures in Michigan, California, New York, Vermont and Minnesota have or are looking at the issue. In Congress, legislation to ban microbeads was introduced but not passed in 2014.

Some of the world’s largest personal care products manufacturers have already pledged to stop using microbeads. In addition to Johnson & Johnson, Proctor & Gamble, Colgate, Unilever and L’Oreal have agreed to remove microbeads from their products.

There are biodegradable alternatives, which are already being brought into personal care products. Manufacturers can use cacao beans, coffee grounds, ground-up apricot shells, salt or sugar.

— Marianne@coloradostatesman.com